There are five patients in this study. Four were >50 years old. One was only 23.

One had bone marrow that was 70% tumor. Yeah...

Four of the five patients went into remission and were eligible for bone marrow transplants. One died of unrelated issues, but the other three are doing just fine.

The fifth patient just couldnt get the bone marrow transplant because of other heath problems, and the cancer came back.

But four out of five went from "My bone marrow is basically just tumor and Ive got a 7% chance of surviving" to "Thanks to GMO HIV, I could get a bone marrow transplant and now Im fine."

The side-effects?

All that dead tumor really pissed off their homeostasis and they had high fevers/high cytokine levels for a while, but it was easily treated with some steroids (but unfortunately would impair the tumor slaughterfest). They gotta improve that. But as far as 'cancer treatment side-effect' profiles go, Ill take it.

So Im happy about this, right?

Well, Im sick of writing about the papers. Im sick of writing about four patients, five patients, six patients. I *know* this is a process, but this kind of protocol *WORKS*. We need this therapy to be fast-tracked into the clinics. We need this to be normal.

More like this

WHY IS THIS NOT STANDARD THERAPY YET?
Efficacy and Toxicity Management of 19-28z CAR T Cell Therapy in B Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
I wrote about this last year:
‘Dismal prognosis’ with leukemia? Nothing a GMO virus cant fix.
In the previous study, scientists took cytotoxic T-cells from five…

File this under "Whoa thats cool! But its not really a realistic solution for the AIDS pandemic."
It sounds like a cruel joke, but HIV patients have increased odds of developing leukemias and lymphomas. These cancers arent necessarily directly related to HIV (there is no reason to think HIV-1 is…

Im sure you all remember the guy I wrote about a while back, who had HIV-1 and leukemia. While that is actually pretty common, what wasnt common was his treatment-- a bone marrow transplant from a match who happened to lack the CCR5 gene, thus lacked one of the co-receptors HIV-1 needs to infect…

This is good news indeed. If anyone has had experience of any kind of leukenia in the family they will know that it pretty much does not get worse than 'blood cancer'.

I have been following this from the get go, and its amazing to think that soon this will be just standard protocol for these diseases soon - it is possibly the most exciting and significant new medical paradigm at the minute - and this sophisticatted - but elegant solutoin - getting the' enemies' in medical seince to work for it - well its enough to make you cry! Yeah science is moving - OK!?

One things for sure - current chemotherapy regimes will soon be seen as a once mediaval 'solution' to these diseases - a desparate attempt to defy the odds for the want of anything better.

Mu, even if they have to custom grow the virii, it's not a major issue. The patients are already having some cells removed, treated with the virus, and re-introduced, which while not super common is already in practice for some commerical treatments. (Autologus immunotherapy). It is challanging to scale this sort of treatment up to major production, but I think the first order of business is like Bryan said, larger trials.

And all of these patients got bone-marow transplants, which might be muddying the waters a bit. I really hope to see some larger trials soon.

If bone marrow transplants are necessary after this treatment, then the treatment is no better than any other that is being used now. If this were a "cure" bone marrow transplants would be unnecessary.
I suffer from MDS. There are chemo treatments that bring this form of Leukemia under control. But most all require Stem cell or Bone marrow transplants.

The problem with autologous bone marrow transplants in leukemia is that it's hard to get rid of residual leukemic cells in the bone marrow. A friend of mine lost his 8 yr old daughter years ago because the affinity purification they used on her marrow cells didn't completely work, and she relapsed after a while. I've seen papers recently where they are working on virus treatments on the stored bone marrow that purge it of leukemic cells using myxoma virus, which apparently has a natural selectivity for leukemic cells.

Donate

ScienceBlogs is where scientists communicate directly with the public. We are part of Science 2.0, a science education nonprofit operating under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Please make a tax-deductible donation if you value independent science communication, collaboration, participation, and open access.

You can also shop using Amazon Smile and though you pay nothing more we get a tiny something.

ERV-->TMZ?
No, this is an education and outreach opportunity, and I want to use it to the best of my ability as an HIV researcher.
1-- I am so glad Charlie Sheen got tested for HIV. Most people who should be, dont, because even faced with a treatable, deadly disease, denial is *incredibly*…

April 7, 2010:
Using HSV-1 to cure metastatic melanoma
May 26, 2015:
WHOOOO!!!!! GMO HSV-1 vs Cancer
October 27, 2015:
FDA approves first-of-its-kind product for the treatment of melanoma
Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States. Melanoma, one type of skin cancer, is the…

Theyre figuring out what the heck is going on in the saga of ERVs and ALS!
2011:
ERVs and ALS
2015:
Human endogenous retrovirus-K contributes to motor neuron disease
1-- Of the many ERVs in your genome, the ones they found activated in the brains of people with ALS are HERV-Ks, at two positions:…

AHHH!!!
2011-- FreeOK, I give a talk vaccines, including a bit on herd immunity, and why it is important for everyone, including those of us who are not immunocompromised.
2013-- Started a new job! Had a ton of bloodwork done to get baseline readings, just in case I get exposed to another pathogen…

More reads

"Growth is never by mere chance; it is the result of forces working together." -James Cash Penney
We don't normally have a week like this, where we not only take on the biggest topics in all of existence, but also have a ground-shaking announcement to make that alters the very fabric of Starts With A Bang! This past week, we've had a whole slew of outstanding things that we've covered, including…

by Katie the lowly intern
Just when you started to feel comforted by the surge of popular culture embracing cephalopods on TV, apparel and porn, scientists spoon out a dose of brutal reality. Researchers from University of Melbourne, University of Brussels and Museum Victoria have revealed another terrifying fact about octopuses. It's not enough that they can squirt ink, have beaks, move by jet…

Fourteen year old internet sensation Rebecca Black just released a follow up video "My Moment" after her debut of "Friday" that went viral with more than 167 million views. Attention at this scale landed her a spot on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and a music video with Katy Perry, "Last Friday Night".
Such opportunities for seemingly instant fame can affect these teens, and pre-teens, in a…